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100 free Sushi trivia questions with answers — food & drink quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
45 free sushi trivia questions with answers. Think you're a sushi expert? Put your knowledge to the test with our engaging 100-question sushi trivia quiz. From traditional nigiri to modern fusion rolls, discover interesting facts about this beloved Japanese cuisine. Whether you're a casual fan or a sushi enthusiast, this quiz will challenge what you know about sushi's rich history and techniques.
30 of 100 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the primary ingredient that is seasoned with vinegar and defines what sushi is?
Vinegared rice
Sushi is traditionally defined by its vinegared rice, also known as sushi-meshi, shari, or sumeshi. The term 'sushi' itself translates to 'sour-tasting,' referring to this seasoned rice.
Q 02Which dried edible seaweed, made from red algae despite its dark green color, wraps most sushi rolls?
Nori
Nori is red algae pressed and dried into sheets like paper; a British botanist's 1949 research on its life cycle rescued Japan's nori industry.
Q 03Why did the earliest sushi makers ferment fish with salt and rice?
To prevent spoilage without refrigeration
To prevent spoilage without refrigeration: narezushi fish was lacto-fermented for months, and the rice, by then sour mush, was thrown away before eating.
Q 04Which Japanese dish of meticulously thin-sliced raw fish is served with no rice at all, so is technically not sushi?
Sashimi
Sashimi is not sushi, since sushi is defined by its vinegared rice; the word covers any thinly sliced raw meat, not just fish.
Q 05Which pungent green paste, made from the grated root of a Japanese plant, is the standard hot condiment beside sushi?
Wasabi
Wasabi is grated from the root-like stem of a plant that grows in cold mountain streams, and it is so hard to farm that most of what is served is not the real thing.
Q 06Which sushi style, invented in 19th-century Edo, hand-presses a slice of fish onto a small mound of vinegared rice?
Nigiri
Nigiri is credited to Hanaya Yohei in 19th-century Edo, today's Tokyo, where it was sold from street stalls as a quick bite; the name means 'hand-pressed'.
Q 07What do you call sushi rolled in nori on a bamboo mat and sliced into six or eight pieces?
Maki
Maki means 'roll', and the six or eight slices from one rolled log make up a single order; the bamboo mat is a makisu.
Q 08What is the primary job of the rice vinegar dressing folded into freshly cooked short-grain sushi rice?
To add a slightly sweet, salty, and tangy flavor
To add a slightly sweet, salty, and tangy flavor; the stickiness comes from the short-grain rice itself, while the dressing mixes vinegar with sugar and salt, sometimes kombu and sake.
Q 09Which of these fish is a widely popular choice for sushi and sashimi, known as 'Maguro' in Japanese?
Tuna
Tuna, known as Maguro in Japan, is one of the most iconic and popular fish used in sushi and sashimi, cherished for its versatility in flavor and texture across different cuts.
Q 10Which cone-shaped sushi, with fillings spilling out the wide end, is meant to be picked up and eaten by hand?
Temaki
Temaki means 'hand roll', and the cone should be eaten right away, before the nori goes soft from the rice.
Q 11Which Edo-period chef is credited with inventing or perfecting nigirizushi around 1824?
Hanaya Yohei
Yohei's shop was in Ryōgoku, and his rice portions were about three times the size of a modern nigiri.
Q 12What does the Japanese word for this dish literally mean?
"Sour-tasting"
The name comes from an old conjugation of the adjective sui, 'to be sour', a nod to the vinegared rice rather than the fish.
Q 13In what year did Yoshiaki Shiraishi open the first conveyor belt sushi restaurant, Genroku Zushi?
1958
Shiraishi reportedly got the idea from watching beer bottles move along a brewery conveyor.
Q 21Kakinohazushi, a specialty of Nara, is wrapped in the leaves of which tree?
Persimmon
The leaves add fragrance and help preserve the fish, a practical touch for a landlocked region.
Q 22Aburi oshizushi, pressed sushi seared with a butane torch, was invented in 2008 in which city?
Vancouver
The style often layers on mayonnaise, jalapeños and avocado, and later spread to Toronto.
Q 23The original California roll used real cooked crab, but modern versions almost always substitute what?
Imitation crab
Imitation crab, the kani kama crab stick, is surimi: a paste of processed white fish, usually pollock, dyed and flavored to pass as crab.
Q 14Kappamaki takes its name from the kappa, a legendary Japanese water imp said to be fond of which filling?
Cucumber
Cucumber is the kappa's favorite, so the slim cucumber roll bears its name; it is traditionally eaten between pieces of raw fish to clear the palate.
Q 15Tekkamaki, the tuna roll, originally got its name from being a quick snack eaten where?
Gambling dens
The word tekka means 'red hot iron', and the dens were called tekkaba, an origin story much like the sandwich's.
Q 16Inarizushi is sushi rice stuffed inside a pouch made of what?
Fried tofu
Fried tofu pouches, aburaage, are simmered sweet and then stuffed; the dish is named for Inari, the Shinto deity of rice.
Q 17In Shinto lore, which animals, the messengers of the god Inari, are fond of the fried tofu used in inarizushi?
Foxes
Foxes guard Inari shrines as stone statues, and some regions fold the tofu pouches with pointed corners to mimic fox ears.
Q 18Gunkanmaki, the "warship roll" for loose toppings like roe, was invented in 1941 at which Ginza restaurant?
Kyubey
Wrapping a strip of nori around the rice greatly expanded the range of soft toppings sushi could carry.
Q 19Battera, the pressed mackerel sushi of Osaka, takes its name from a Portuguese word meaning what?
Small boat
The wooden molds used to press the sushi were thought to look like tiny boats.
Q 20Oshizushi, block-shaped sushi pressed in a wooden mold, is a specialty of which city?
Osaka
Every ingredient in oshizushi is cooked or cured; raw fish is never used.
Q 24Chef Hidekazu Tojo says the California roll got its name from two ingredients abbreviated to "C.A." Which two?
Crab and avocado
Tojo also claims credit for the inside-out roll and was named a goodwill ambassador for Japanese cuisine in 2016.
Q 25Salmon sushi was not widely accepted in Japan until a late-1980s push by which country's salmon industry?
Norway
Wild Japanese salmon carries parasites and was always cooked; farmed Atlantic salmon was parasite-free and fatty.
Q 26Which ingredient, unheard of in Japanese sushi, is the most common sushi ingredient in Brazil?
Cream cheese
Brazilian temaki are often stuffed with large amounts of it too.
Q 27Temarizushi is sushi pressed by hand into what shape?
A ball
A ball, shaped by hand inside plastic wrap; the name comes from the temari, a traditional embroidered handball.
Q 28Ehōmaki, the uncut Setsubun roll, is made with how many lucky ingredients?
Seven
The Kansai custom had spread across all of Japan by 2000, helped along by convenience-store promotions.
Q 29In sushi-bar slang, 'murasaki' (meaning purple) refers to what?
Soy sauce
Most of these slang terms are used only inside sushi bars, not in everyday Japanese.
Q 30What does 'agari' mean in sushi vocabulary?
Green tea
Better sushi restaurants often pour a premium powdered tea called mecha.